The comments and digestives of the smritis are Hindu law schools. By widening the scope of Hindu law, these schools have contributed to its development.
Mitakshara is a running commentary on the Code of Yajnavalkya, and a veritable digest of Smriti jurisprudence, with a modest term that signifies a little compilation. Vijananeshwara, an ascetic also known as Vijnana Yogin, wrote it in the late eleventh century. Mitakshara encompasses the content of Smriti law, as well as its precepts and injunctions, and is more of a summation than a mere commentary on a particular Smriti.
A trendier written material is allowed to compete with it in Gujarat, the island of Bombay, and the North Konkan, the Mayukha, and is recognized as an overruling authority on some issues. There are a few deflections from parental authority inside the Mithila.
Vijananeshwara analyses and discusses Yajnavalkya’s tests in great detail at times. He “explains the meaning of recondite sections, provides omissions, and reconciles conflicts by frequent reference to alternative old expounders of the law,” according to the council. He has the distinct distinction of being both pontifical and simple to understand. Mitakshara is one of Hindu law’s most important schools. The Mitakshara’s jurisdiction is vast. However, due to the many customary rules observed in different areas of the country, different parts of the country practice law in different ways.
SUB-DIVISION OF MITAKSHARA SCHOOL: The Mitakshara school is divided into four minor schools, which differ in certain minor details, particularly in relation to adoption and inheritance. All of these schools respect Mitakshara’s absolute authority, although they prefer certain treatises and interpretations that regulate specific Mitakshara passages. This explains the disparities between those schools.
They are as follows:
a) Hindu law school in Banaras
b) Mithila Law School is a law school in Mithila, India.
c) Maharashtra University of Law
d) Law school in Dravida or Madras
a) Banaras Law School– This law school, which is affiliated with Mitakshara Law School, serves Northern India, including Orissa. Viramitrodaya Nirnyasindhu vivada and Viramitrodaya Nirnyasindhu vivada are two of the most prominent comments on it. The Benares School is commonly said to as the most orthodox of the Hindu law schools.
b) Mithila Law School– This law school has jurisdiction over the Tirhoot and north Bihar districts. In the north, law school norms reign supreme. Vivadaratnakar, Vivadachintamani, and smritsara are the important commentaries of this school. The Kalpataru by Lakshmidhara is a text that Mithila School adherents routinely quote.
c) Maharashtra or Bombay law school– The Maharashtra law school has jurisdiction over the geographical regions of the state, including Gujarat Karana and areas where the Marathi language is spoken fluently. These schools’ key authorities are Vyavhara Mayukha, Virmitrodaya, and others.
d) Madras Law School- This law school serves the entire southern Indian region. Mitakshara law school is also where it exercises its authority. Smriti Chandrika of Devanna Bhatta,233 who thrived at the end of the eleventh century, has had a powerful influence in South India throughout her life. It is an exposition on the law of inheritance, and Colebrooke regarded it as a book of exceptional quality, comparable to, if not superior to, Parashara Madhaviya, another major expert in the South. Smriti Chandrika, Vaijayanti, and others are the school’s primary officials.
MITAKSHARA JOINT HINDU FAMILY: A joint family, according to Mitakshara law school, refers to solely the male member of a family and includes his son, grandson, and a great-grandson. In the Joint Family, they have collective co-ownership/Coparcenary. As a result, a son through birth obtains an interest in the joint family’s ancestral property.
MITAKSHARA COPARCENARY: The major goal of comprehending the Mitakshara coparcenary notion was spiritual in nature. A coparcener, in the case of the father, is someone who can offer him a funeral cake. The son, son of a son (grandson), and son of a son of a son (great-grandson)1 had the potential to bring spiritual salvation through the fulfillment of burial rites, and as a result, they were given the right to the father’s property by birth.
FORMATION OF MITAKSHARA COPARCENARY: A coparcenary cannot be formed by a single individual. It should be composed of at least two male members. To begin a coparcenary, the presence of a seniormost male member is required, just as it is in a Hindu joint family. As previously stated, a coparcenary must have at least two members to begin and continue. In addition, forming a coparcenary necessitates a strong link between father and son.
WOMEN AS COPARCENERS: Women are not allowed to be coparceners under Mitakshara’s coparcenary. Although a wife has a right to maintenance from her husband’s property under Hindu law, she is not a coparcener with him. Because the widow of a deceased coparcener is not a coparcener, she cannot be considered as the family’s Karta. As a result, any alienation she makes will only bind her own portion of the property and not the family members.
Under the Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act of 1937, a widow succeeding to her deceased husband’s portion in the joint family is not a coparcener. Despite the fact that she is not a manager or Karta, she can be taxed as the head of a joint family. A mother is not a coparcener with her sons or daughters, even if they are devadasis. In the same way, a mother-in-law cannot be a coparcener alongside her daughter-in-law.
CONCLUSION: The Mitakshara system might be classified as conservative. It provides strong security in difficult times since members of the joint family can rely on one other. A member, on the other hand, can become a parasite at any time.
ENDNOTES: https://prolawctor.com/school-of-hindu-law/
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